Four Gay Couples Challenge Arizona's Gay Marriage Ban

By
Carlos Santoscoy
Published:
January 07, 2014

A lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of
four gay and lesbian couples challenges the constitutionality of
Arizona's gay marriage ban.

Arizona voters in 2008 approved
Proposition 102, which limits marriage to heterosexual couples, two
years after rejecting Proposition 107, which sought to prohibit gay
couples from marriage, civil unions and possibly domestic
partnerships.

“I think most people expect that this
issue will eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme court,”
attorney Shawn Aiken, who is representing the couples, told KTAR
Radio.

Named defendants include Governor Jan
Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne.

In a landmark decision handed down in
June, the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA), which led to federal recognition of the legal
marriages of gay couples. The ruling prompted a flurry of legal
filings throughout the nation. And like most of those challenges,
Monday's lawsuit relies heavily on the court's opinion.

“Like the offending provision of DOMA
(Section 3), Arizona law imposes inequality on same-sex couples in
violation of the U.S. Constitution,” the lawsuit states. “The
text of Article 30, section 1 of the Arizona Constitution, which
defines marriage as the 'union of one man and one woman,' mirrors the
text in Section 3 of DOMA that was stricken as unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court in Windsor.”

Plaintiffs in the suit include three
male couples and one female couple. Two of the couples have adopted
children.